nemo1043

On the one hand, it's got moments of genuine hilarity and ingenuity. Rare these days in movie theaters - it seems only stand-up has any guts and originality. I laughed hard in places and so did the first-weekend LA crowd. On the other hand, the story is without much momentum and lacks a sense of inevitability. Feels random and without clear purpose/meaning. As though the whole thing were a series of sketches strung together with no driving thematic goal. Another way of putting it is that it does not get more interesting as it goes. But the acting and casting is superb. Very well directed. Bravo!

This movie should have been right up my alley. I love John Garfield. And love WW2 stories. But the tone is absolutely dopey. The terrible music is wall to wall. And the lead actress is one dimensional. Instead of being a Hitchcock it plays out with the depth of a 50s sitcom. Even Garfield looks lost and embarrassed. The worst part is that beats are played out over and over again. It's flat, silly, repetitious. The real culprit driving the badness is the actress. Nancy Coleman is it? She has no nuances. Delivers everything the same way. Painful. No wonder she didn't make it. Anyway that's enough.